Ration book holder or cover



Dec. 7; 1943. M. BARTELS- RATION BOOK HOLDER-OR COVER Filed April 9, 1943 Patented Dec. 7, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RATION BOOK HOLDER ORCOVER Maude L. Bartels, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to H. Levine & Company, Cleveland, Ohio Application April 9, 1943, Serial No. 482,388

Claims. (Cl. 129-39) This invention relates, as indicated, to book holders or covers, but has reference more particularly to holders or covers designed especially as temporary binders, holders or covers for ration books of the type used during the present war.

Holders, covers or binders of this general type have heretofore been patented in which elastic tapes, strings or wires have been used in conjunction with securing means, such as hooks, boards or other fasteners, but these have generally proved to be unsightly and not well adapted for the purposes for which they were designed.

The present invention has as its primary object, the provision of a holder which has been designed particularly to hold war ration books, which holder is neat, compact and attractive in appearance, stays fiat in open or closed condition, which maintains the ration books in good condition, and which is generally extremely well adapted for the purpose for which it has been designed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a holder of the character described which will hold a multiplicity of ration books, so that a single holder is sufiicient to serve an entire family.

A further object of the invention is to provide a holder of the character described having novel ration book securing means built into the holder or cover as a permanent or substantially integral part thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a ration book holder or cover embodying one form of the ration book securing means;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective detail of the upper central portion of the holder of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a modified form of ration book securing means, and

Fig. 4 is a detail, similar to Fig. 2, but taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, it will be seen that the ration book holder is preferably made from a single piece of leather, imitation leather, or similar material comprising a front I, back 2 and flap 3, the flap having a snap fastener 4, which is adapted for securement to a cooperating snap fastener 5 on the front I, when the holder or book is closed.

Permanently secured to the inside of the holder or cover at the junction between the front I and back 2, as by means of lines 6 and l of reinforcing stitching, is a plurality of flexible elements, consisting of strands of braid or taping, or other similar fabric, each of which is provided with a hem 8' at each end, inorder to insure against the appearance of ragged ends and to provide reinforcement for each braid, the stitching 6 and l extendingalso through said hems.

The elements 8 are closely adjacent each other, and eachof such elements is adaptedrto hold in place a pair of ration books, as for example War Ration Books Nos. 1 and 2, diagrammatically illustrated by the reference characters B and B in Fig. 1. In inserting each pair of ration books, one ration book is placed inside the other, and the pair, in open condition, is inserted under one of the elements 8, which thus serves to securely hold the pair of books in place, but permits them to be easily opened, rendering each coupon or stamp visible and easy to locate.

Since there are six of the elements 8 shown in Fig. 2, each holder will hold six pair or twelve ration books, so that a single holder will sufiice to hold the books of an entire family.

The books can easily be slipped out of the elements Swhen necessary and replaced by other books, without disturbing other books in the holder which are not to be removed.

The holder, even when completely filled with ration books, is neat, compact and attractive in appearance, stays flat in open or closed condition, and maintains the ration books in good condition.

Referring to the modified form of the invention shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the book securing means in this case, instead of consisting of separate strands of material, as in Figs. 1 and 2, consists of a strip H) of leather, imitation leather, suede, or similar material, secured to the inside of the holder at its ends by the lines 6 and l of stitching, and provided between such ends with parallel slits ll, forming parallel flexible elements I2, similar in nature and function to the elements 8, which have been previously described. Each of these elements [2, in other words, serves to hold in the cover a pair of ration books. If desired, additional vertical lines of stitching l3 and i4 may be employed to secure the strip 10 to the cover.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention, herewith shown and described, is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of my invention, or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A ration book holder comprising a strip of flexible sheet material foldable intermediate its ends to provide opposed cover portions joined by an intermediate folded back portion, a flexible strap member carried by the strip at said folded back portion, said strap being disposed transversely of said strip and substantially parallel to'the line of fold, and means for securing the opposite ends of said strap to said strip includ mg stitches passing through the strap and penetrating the material of the strip.

2. A ration book holder comprising anaemgated strip of flexible sheet material foldable intermediate its ends to provide opposed cover portions integrally joined by an intermediate folded back portion, a flexible book retaining strap carried by said strip within the folded back portion, said strap being disposed transversely of said strip and generally parallel to the line of fold, the opposite ends of said strap being folded inwardly to lie between the main body portion of said strap and the contiguous face of the strip, and means for securing the strap to the strip including stitches penetrating the superposed layers of the strap and the material Of the strip. 3. A ration book holder comprising a strip of flexible sheet material foldable intermediate its ends toprovide opposed cover portions joined by an intermediate folded back portion, flexible strap members carried by the strip at said folded back portion, said straps being disposed transversely of said strip and substantially parallel to the line of fold and to each other, and means for securing the opposite ends of said straps to said strip including stitches passing through the strap ends and penetrating the material of the strip.

4. A ration book holder comprising an elongated strip of flexible sheet material foldable intermediate its ends to provide opposed cover portions integrally joined by an intermediate folded back portion, a flexible book retaining strap having a multiplicity of parallel slits therein, said strap being disposed transversely of said flexible sheet within the folded back portion thereof with the parallel slits generally parallel to the line of fold, the opposite ends of said strap being secured to the flexible strip by stitches passing through the strap and penetrating the material of said strip.

MAUDE L. BARTELS. 

